World Trade Organization: Developing nations wary of new issues

Developing countries including India are wary of any new issues such as environment, gender, and micro, small and medium enterprises being pushed into the final outcome of the ongoing ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization. India and many developing countries are opposed to such issues as they are not related to trade, do not have the consensus of all 164 members and are being pushed when the long standing issues related to food security are unresolved.

The concern, sources said, stems from the fact that the official draft outcome text allows for the inclusion of any issues that are under discussion. As per the draft MC12 outcome document issued on Friday, a separate part has been reserved for "reference to separate decisions or declarations as adopted by ministers".

"The plurilateral talks will get legal sanctity even if the outcome mentions them. This would be a huge setback to the multilateral trading system," said an official.


As per another official of a developing country, developed countries are likely to push for the inclusion of these plurilaterals, called Joint Statement Initiatives, at the last moment.

"There are attempts by the developed countries to get them added in the outcome document. Once that happens, then going ahead, all negotiations would be on these issues and the developmental agenda would be left behind," the second official said.

Official press conference on three issues related to environment-Plastic Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics; Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions; and Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform-have already taken place at the ongoing ministerial.